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CHAS. 
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GOODi'PEED. 
BOSTON  g3MA55. 


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OMPARATIVELY  speaking  the  designs  of 
Mr*  Bird  show  a  marked  tendency  towards  the 
photogravure  or  copper  plate  rather  than  the 
zinc  etching.  The  primary  motive  of  all  artists 
is  to  have  their  work  reproduced  in  a  manner 
best  calculated  to  bring  out  truthfully  the  va- 
rious details  of  the  design,  and  the  photogravure 
process  seems  to  be  perhaps  the  best  method,  as, 
if  the  drawing  is  in  wash  it  will  give  the  same 
subdued  coloring,  with  a  certain  richness  in  the 
tones,  or  if  in  pen  and  ink  will,  while  giving  the 
bright  line  of  the  pen,  add  to  it  a  softness  that 
is  approached  by  no  other  method  except  pos- 
sibly by  the  dry  point  etching.  Two  of  his  de- 
signs have  been  engraved  on  copper  and  make 
very  handsome  finished  plates,  but  in  both  cases 
the  feeling  of  the  design  instilled  from  the  indi- 
viduality of  the  artist  is  lost  through  hand  en- 
graving by  another  who  has  consciously  or  un- 
consciously incorporated  more  or  less  of  his  own 


idcsLS  into  the  design  in  the  rendition  of  the  artist's  ^  - 

color,  which  in  the  original  drawing  was  in  wash 
while  in  the  finished  engraved  plate  it  h  hatched 
without  the  fine  gradation  of  color  which  the 
original  called  for.  This  can  be  readily  seen 
by  glancing  over  the  plates  shown  in  the  fol- 
lowing pages ;  take  any  of  the  photogravures, 
for  instance,  and  compare  it  with  the  Whiting 
plate,  and  it  will  at  once  be  seen  that  the  indi- 
viduality of  the  artist  is  somewhat  lessened  and 
merged  into  that  of  the  engraver,  the  mere  shell 
of  the  artist's  work  remaining,  while  the  engrav- 
er is  practically  but  the  reproducer,  in  much  the 
same  manner  as  is  the  photo-engraven 

By  this  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  a  design 
cannot  be  executed  in  an  acceptable  manner. 
The  Whiting  plate  is  a  beautiful  piece  of  engrav- 
ing, and  shows  the  hand  of  a  master  in  this 
respect,  but  it  does  not  reflect  the  full  individ- 
uality and  color  effect  of  the  artist's  original 
drawing,  rather  it  gives  one  the  impression  that 
it  had  been  engraved  from  a  pen  and  ink  design 
which  had  very  little  color  in  it. 

The  foregoing  does  not  mean  that  Mr,  Bird 
draws  only  for  the  photogravure  process  and 
engraved  copper  plate.  That  is  merely  his 
preference,  and  not  everybody  cares  to  go  to  the 
expense  of  a  copper  plate,  but  must  be  contented 


with  a  zinc  etching,  of  which  there  arc  some 
few  in  the  following  pages* 

Mr.  Bird  is  really  a  decorative  artist  as  distin- 
guished from  an  illustrative  artist.  All  his 
designs  have  a  strong  decorative  feeling,  as  well 
as  his  lettering*  The  designs  all  exude  decor- 
ation, but  without  being  flagrant ;  his  idea  of 
this  is  that  decoration  has  a  definite  place  in  a 
book-plate  if  only  for  its  enriching  power,  if 
not  used  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  the  salient 
features  of  the  design  subservient  to  it.  The 
application  of  this  can  best  be  seen  in  the  plates 
for  Frank  Wood,  Charles  H.  Taylor,  Harold 
D.  Holmes  and  some  others. 

In  a  cursory  glance  over  the  book-plate  field 
here  in  America  it  seems  to  me  that  the  plates 
are  largely  the  work  of  so-called  decorative  de- 
signers, most  of  whose  work  is  strictly  in  the 
mercantile  line,  and  it  is  a  question  whether  a 
man  the  bulk  of  whose  work  is  for  mercantile 
purposes  can  be  as  effective  in  the  designing  of 
book-plates  which  require  idealism  and  person- 
ality, as  well  as  strong  inventive  powers.  From 
the  knowledge  that  I  have  of  the  plates  of  this 
country,  I  should  take  the  negative  side,  with 
but  few  exceptions.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind, 
however,  that  the  artist  is  not  always  free  to 
use  his  own  ideas  on  a  plate,  but  is  hampered  by 


too  many  suggfestions  from  the  prospective  own- 
er* In  this  connection  compare  the  plate  of 
Frank  Wood  with  the  landscape  plate  of  the 
writer*  In  the  former,  the  designer  was  held 
down  to  certain  things,  the  ttse  of  the  books,  in 
their  peculiar  position,  the  arms  and  quotation, 
etc*,  while  in  my  plate  there  were  no  suggestions 
from  me  whatever,  and  the  result  is  that  as  an 
artistic  book-plate  it  is  one  of  the  best  if  not  the 
best  Mr*Bird  has  made*  There  is  a  freedom  about 
it  and  a  sincerity  quite  refreshing,  and  it  is  per- 
sonal in  the  introduction  of  the  woodland  dale, 
the  reader  in  the  fork  of  the  tree  and  the  jester 
fooling  with  art*  The  Wood  plate  is  not  so 
free  and  lacks  the  life  of  the  other*  There  is 
no  necessity  for  laborious  displays  of  books  on 
a  book-plate,  and  Mr*  Bird  has  not  introduced 
them  except  where  compelled  to  do  so  by  the 
owner,  or  as  an  ornamentation,  as  in  the  Holmes 
plate*  The  lettering  on  all  the  plates  is  pretty 
much  the  same,  but  it  is  readable  which  is  the 
principal  thing;  freakish  letters  have  no  proper 
place  on  a  book-plate* 

Mr*  Bird  is  a  Boston  man,  and  a  graduate  of 
the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  and 
from  his  experience  there  gained  his  first  knowl- 
edge of  light  and  shade,  the  handling  of  color, 
and  systems  of  pen  work*    After  his  graduation 


he  became  head  designer  fot  the  Boston  Photo- 
gtavure  Gjmpany  and  later  was  with  the  Art 
Publishing  Company,  which  he  left  to  go  into 
business  for  himselL  His  first  large  order  was 
the  embellishment  of  '^Famous  Composers  and 
Their  Work*^ 

While  at  the  Institute  he  was  always  asso- 
ciated with  the  college  publications,  and  has 
assisted  in  the  illustration,  and  superintended  the 
issue  of  many  college  annuals  throughout  the 
country*  During  the  recent  poster  craze  he  was 
one  of  the  foremost  designers,  his  bold  style  be- 
ing very  convincing*  He  has  also  an  enviable 
reputation  as  a  cartoonist,  being  at  the  head  of 
this  branch  of  art  on  football  matters* 

His  ideas  in  book-plate  making  are  to  get 
away  from  the  old  rectangular  shape  and  gen- 
eral ideas  taken  by  most  designers  and  turn  out 
something  new  both  in  shape  and  handling  of 
the  subject. 


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